Improvement in cigar-machines



N.0. 121,293- Patented Nov'. 29,1871..

. zag-z 3 She'ets--Sheet 3,.,

No. 121-',298. Patented m28., 1871.]

i yUNITED STATES PATENT GFFICE.

j SOORATES SOHOLFIELD, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN ClGAR-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 121,298, dated November 28, 1871; antedated November 11,1871.

Be it known that I, SocRATEs ScHoLFreLD, of the city and county of Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cigar-Machines, of which the following is a full,`clear, and exact description, 1.,. reference being had to the accompanying draw- !"fjing forming part of this specification, and in which- Figure l represents a longitudinal sectional el- 'evation of a cigar-making machine or apparatus tif embracing my invention; Fig. 2, a partly-sectional end view of the same in part; Fig. 3, a plan j g of certa-in cutters as arranged on a cutter-bar for pointing and trimming the ends of the cigars, or for dividing an elongated bunch to form the tips andends of two or more cigars made from the same bunch. Figs. 4 and 5 show modifications ofthe cutter for dividing and tapering the ends of the if' bunch. Fig. 6 is a side elevation ofthe machine, {ji-1 and Fig. 7 a partly-sectional plan thereof. y8, 9, and 10 are face views of a driving-pulley and Figs.

certain clutch devices or connections for automatically controlling, subject to the will of the opcrater, the operating portions of the machine in harmony ith the opening and closing of the rolls or devices which form the bunch.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several iigures.

This invention mainly consists in mechanism i j for making cigars, in which the bunches or fillers are made of elongated form equal to two or f more cigars in length, and are divided transversely by, cutters of such conguration as to give a proper tapering point to the cigar. Said invention comprises a combination, with said cutters and with bunch-forming rolls or their equivalents, of an endless intermittently-travelin g apron having strips or projections on its face for catchf* ing the bunch or iiller as it is delivered from the rolls, and for carrying and holding it in place l under a cutting-block, so that the cutters as they ascend will effect the desired cut in the bunch. The invention likewise includes a drawer or receptacle for packing or piling the cut bunches in regular order and in successive layers within it as they are delivered from the cutters by the end- 'f less apron or its equivalent, said drawer being voperated by a transverse motion to move it intermittently, iirst in one path or plane and then to drop and move it at intervals in a reverse direcquired to arrange the bunches within the drawer.

Furthermore, the invention comprises an automatic clutch device or combination of devices for controlling thevarious operatin g portions of the machine whereby they will `be made to move in harmony with the opening and closing rolls, subject to the action of the latter as controlled by the will of the operator, without arresting the motion of the driving-pulley. This allows of the bunch-forming rolls or devices being kept closed and continued in motion any desired length of time to put on the binder, and makes of the invention an organized machine that, while forming the bunch, cutting and shaping its ends, and packing a series of them in regular order, free from handling and injury and ready for wrapping and finishing, does not limit the time of the tobaccos exposure within the bunch-forming rolls or devices, whereby much imperfect binding is avoided.

In the accompanying drawing the apparatus for forming the bunch, although it may be variously constructed, is represented as consisting of a nest or cluster of rotating rolls, a and a', the one series, a, of which, as in other machines, is made to open and close relatively to the other series, a', to provide for the insertion of the tobacco and removal of the bunch after the latter has been formed and the binder run on over it during a closed condition of the rolls. For this purpose the opening series of rolls, a, is hung in an opening and closing head, A, which is made to rock on or with a shaft, b, by treadle-motion, as applied to a lever, c. Said rolls, which may be rotated by gearing at one of their ends, form a shaft, d, receiving its motion, by belt and pulley or otherwise, in a regular or automatic manner, are made longer than usual, so that they will roll at one and the same time a bunch or ller equal to two or more cigars in length. An apron, O, arranged to swing, by suitable motion lapplied to it, through the opening and closing head A, serves to enter within and retire from the rolls at intervals to prevent the tobacco from dropping out when a fresh charge is inserted during the opening of the rolls, and to allow of the delivery of the bunch through the rolls from beneath. The elongated bunch, which it will sufce here to assume to be equal to two cigars in length or a little over, is delivered or caused to drop at each opening of the rolls onto an endless apron or aprons, D, between strips or projections e, arranged to catch the bunch and hold it in line or place, and to convey it, as required, and as hereinafterl described. This apron @,whieh may be divided to form parallel aprons at a suitable distance apart, but which virtually operates as a single apron, is arranged to travel around drums fj" placed at suitable distances apart, and has an intermittent movement given to it by means of a toothed cam or ratchet, g, arranged on the end of the one drum j' by a pawl, g', pivoted to a rocking-arm, t, which receives its drivingmovelnent from a cam, z', on the oj'ierating'shaft B, and is thrown back by the action of a spring. Each driving-movement of the pawl y feeds the endless apron O a distance sufficient to bring a succeeding row of cross-strips, c, in line to catch a bunch as it is delivered from the forming-rolls. The bunches thus received on the endless apron near its forward end are afterward conveyed by said apron, one elongated bunch at a time, under cutting-blocks E and over a slotted table, F, through which cutters G and H are projected, at a period when the apron is at rest, to cut or divide and trim the ends of the bunch as required, the strips c serving during such action to hold the bunch in line and place. Three cutters are here shown-that is, a center one and two end ones. The latter cutters, H, may be of similar construction to the center one, but they are here shown straight for trimming the opposite ends of the elongated bunch square, while the center cutter, G, is preferably made of double reversed V, or diamond-shape or other equivalent form in its transverse section, so that upon being projected up through the bunch it cuts or punches a double wedgedshaped piece out of the latter and divides the bunch or nearly so at its center, leaving a wedgeshaped recess in each half, and so that by afterward bringing together or closing the opposite faces of such cut portions in each halfl a most perfectly-shaped and uniform tip is obtained for each cigar made from the elongated bunch, and, by the slight opening left, a good draught is secured. I do not restrict myself, however, to any particular shape of cutter Gr so long as it will divide and taper the bunch as required. Thus it may be of the forms represented in Figs. 4 and 5. The several cutters G and H are carried by a verticallysliding cutter-bar, I, which receives its upward motion to effect the cut at suitable intervals by a cam, J, on the shaft B. After the elongated bunch has been thus punched or cut and trimmed it is conveyed, in due course, by the endless apron G over the table F-that is, a series of such cut elongated bunches is conveyed in succession, one in rear of the other, by the intermittentlytraveling apron, and deposited 'at the back end of the table through guides 7c k within a drawer or receptacle, K, arranged to receive them. This drawer K has an intermittent sliding motion communicated to it, first in the one direction and then in the other, at different levels for each direction of travel, which operation is repeated for any number of lines or rows of travel, commencing with an upper one. The length of each intermittent feed and distance of the rows of travel apart are equal to the thickness of the bunch or vthereabout, and the drawer is so timed in its the first, and so in succession till the drawer is full, when it may be taken out with the bunches in proper order for taking them out one by one to put on the wrappers and finish them, thereby avoiding much handling and injury of them. To obtain for the drawer its speciied movement it may be hung to'slide, as by pins m m along par- 71 allel rows of waysl Z1 Z2, commencing, as it were, on both sides of the frame from opposite ends, or

front and back alternately, and connected by drop-grooves a a, arranged to break joint with one another. These grooves, in conjunction with the disposition of the ends of the ways, serve to pass or drop the drawer at the end of each longitudinal travel from the one way to the other. The intermittent travel of the drawer along the ways Z l1 Z2 may be effected by any suitable traverse motion, as, for in stance, by a reversely-threaded screw or, grooved cylinder L, receiving its motion by bevel-gear or otherwise from the shaft B, which, although the main operating shaft, is only actuated intermittently, as will be hereinafter more fully explained. The drawer K receives its motion from the reversely-grooved cylinder L by a sliding-sleeve, M, which is in pin-gear with said cylinder, and which is provided with the drivingarms or projections o and 0, the one, o, of which acts against a pin, r, on the drawer, and which is elastic to admit of the drawer being slipped past it when required to take out the drawer, and the other arm, o', which serves to move the drawer in an opposite direction, acts as a stop to adjust the drawer to its place relatively with the drivin g-sleeve M when reinsertin g the drawer for operation. To take out the drawer it is only necessary to press on the elastic arm o so that the pin 1" will clear it.

fillers after they leave the forming-rolls a a', is only operated intermittently and in timely order with the opening and closing of said rolls; and in order that there may be no crowding of the work in advance of a proper forming and binding of the bunches I cause the opening and closing of the apparatus which forms the bunches and which is opened and closed at the will of the operator-as by treadle applied to the arm c, or

otherwise-to control the subsequent operations i so that the rolls a c may be kept closed and run- The shaft B, which controls 'Y the operation of the machine on the bunches or "V ning for any length of time required, and imtil the bunch is perfectly bound, before passing or subjecting it to the further operations of the machine. To this end the opening-head A of the forming-rolls or arm c thereof may have pivoted to it a rod, N, which serves to control a clutch on the operating-shaft B to put said shaft in and out of gearwith its driving-pulley B', that, being fitted loosely on said shaft, may be kept contin- 1 ually rimning. This clutch may be variously constructed, but it will answer to make it as follows: Fitted loosely on the shaft B is a disk, O,

` hooked connection with the rod N, so that on the closing of the head A said disk isrocked to cause its inclines s to bear against the stationary in clines t, thereby forcing the disk outward. This y moves another disk, P, which is itted to slide upon a feather, u, on the shaft B, up against the loosely-running driving-pulleys B', so that the intermediate disk l? is driven by the pulley by or through pins w x, arranged to project within annular grooves in the adjacent faces of said disk .and pulley. These pins are beveled on their driving sides, so that on releasing the rod N from hold ofthe disk O, which is done at the proper time to regulate the feed of the apron C and stroke of the cutters G H, the beveled-pins x force the bevel-pins w and disk P away from the pulley, and by the inclines s and t also slide inward and turn (ready for a repeated upward aci" f. tion of the rod N) the disk O. This stops the shaft B, and it is not set in motion again till a succeeding closing action of the head A, which latter, in being opened, lowers the rod N to hook into gear with the disk O, so that on the raising of said rod by the closing of the rolls a a the pulley B is once more put in driving connection through the clutch with the shaft B. The timely releasing ofthe rod N to arrest the movement of the shaft B while the rolls a a continue closed and running is effected by a trip-arm or lever,

Q, made fast to the shaft B, and acting on the rod N against the force of a spring, i that serves to keep the rod N in working contact with the disk O or pin Z thereof, onto which the rod N hooks, as and for the purpose hereinbefore described.

What is here claimed, and desired to be secured by Letters Patent, is-

l. The combination, with a bunch-forming apparatus or device constructed to produce an elongated bunch or ller, of a cutter or cutters, G, formed to divide and taper the bunch, substantially as specified.

2. The combination of the cutters G and H with a bunch-forming and binding apparatus, essentially as described.

3. The intermittently-moving apron D provided with strips or projections e, in combination with the bunch-forming apparatus and cutters G H, substantially as specified.

4. The drawer K, constructed and arranged to receive an intermittent movement alternately, in reverse directions, alongpaths or ways l Z1 l2 arranged the one below the other, and connected by drop-grooves u, essentially as described.

5. The combination, with the drawer K arranged to operate as described, of the conveyingapron D and the guides lc k, substantially as specied.

6. The combination, with an apparatus for forming cigar-bunches and putting on the binders, of devices for cutting, conveying, and packing the bunches, arranged 'for operation in an automatic manner, subject to the action of a clutch controlled by the opening and closing of the apparatus which forms and binds the bunches, essentially as and for the purposes herein set forth.

SOCRATES SGHOLFIELD. 

